Living Life

“Life outside your craft is just as important as practicing it, if not more.” Smart Blogger

When my date, Roger, saw my map with magnets of the twelve states I visited, he said, “We’ll have to fill in the rest.”

This man is a keeper, I thought. He likes to travel as much as I do. I removed most of the magnets and only retained magnets of the three states we visited together. The map would reflect our life together.

We married less than a year after our first date and have traveled to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, and 48 of the 50 states collecting magnets along the way. We plan to visit the last two states on our list, Wyoming and South Dakota, within the next year or two. Some of our travels to the southern states gave me an opportunity to collect important data for my historical story-in-progress.

We enjoy learning about the history, culture, and way of life in the places we visit. I took notes every day on our trip to Australia and New Zealand and wrote a blog series for Deadwoodwriters.org about that wonderful experience.

Sampling the dishes common to places we visit is a special treat. Eating fresh pineapples in Hawaii, lobster in California, beignets in Louisiana, salmon in Alaska, crabs in Florida, and crocodile meat in Australia thrilled our taste buds. Crocodile meat tastes like chicken – tough chicken. Roger even devoured delicious green-lipped mussels in New Zealand.

Our grandchildren receive colorful postcards from us describing our adventures. From the time our granddaughter was six, she saved her postcards in an album. At age five, our grandson requested a map for Christmas so that he could put a tiny sticker on the places we traveled.

We collect magnets of the places we visit as well as data for future stories I may write.

I’ve learned to live life to the fullest giving me exciting things to write about. Are you living your best life?